AEC1999

Executive Secretary, Resources Commission, Conference of Mennonites in Canada

Memorable! Invigorating! Challenging! Historic! Participants used these words to describe this consultation on evangelism. Representatives of nine denominations, all with historical connections to the radical wing of the Reformation known as "Anabaptists" and six of their academic leadership training institutions, met for two days to talk about evangelism and natural church development.

We are pleased, with this booklet, to share the formal input that was provided at this consultation. You will find affirmation for Christian Schwarz's groundbreaking study. You will also find concern about his research methodology, about the place of the Bible in his research, and suggested questions that should have been included in his survey.

These presentations, and the participation of several "graduates" and practitioners of Schwarz's methodology, proved to be the ingredients of genuinely invigorating interaction. As Anabaptist groups, we resonate with Schwarz's suggestion that the "quality" of church life is the key to consider the "quantity" of participation in the church. Let's face it: we feel much more comfortable talking about faithfulness than numerical growth. However, is the "quality" identified by Schwarz biblical enough? And is our slow growth really a result of greater faithfulness? These were the nagging questions that kept the debates going right through the coffee breaks and into the night.

The passion and energy ignited by the interaction drew us closer to each other. One participant, from one of the smaller Anabaptist groups, suggested: "Now that we know each other, perhaps we could work together." This was a pregnant moment. When nine different groups get together—Canadian and USA folk, academics and practitioners, evangelists and teachers, bureaucrats and visionaries—and we sense that we have learned "to know each other," then we know that it has been a good consultation.

We thank Christian Schwarz for stimulating our discussion. We thank all the participants and the presenters. We are pleased to make this material available to our constituencies.

May God richly bless our efforts to be faithful in proclaiming God's reign and in living out the implications of this reign with integrity and in community.

Taken from An Anabaptist Look at Natural Church Development (© 1999 New Life Ministries). Permission to reproduce for local church use only is granted. Provided by New Life Ministries, 6404 S Calhoun St, Fort Wayne, IN 46807, through its web site at www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org

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